LogBook Entry 191: Divine Scream, Down to Earth

A short, but VERY action-packed chapter. With a titanic twist at the end. Time to unpack the content.

Magma shouts out the command for the Medusa, and he is told the command would not work that way. The distance he shouts out (1000 meters), is half of what Treasure Island’s size was, so that was another shortcoming as well. Fun fact: the distance between California and Araxa is 6,110 meters.

Brody then realizes what Senku’s plan is; to petrify all North America and South America. Quite the insane plan. But an understandable one. With Stanley breathing down their necks, there is absolutely no way they can complete the Medusa on their end now. There is also the fact that the diamonds might not be usable right now (Since they were engulfed in the flames from the bombs). The only way forward is to use the ready-made Medusa in America.

To counteract this plan, Brody tells his soldiers to take the safe out of the room. Mozu is the first to react, taking two soldiers out of the way before stealing the keys from Brody’s neck. He uses the Owari-Kanryu style that he learned from Hyoga. The same style he used to eliminate the enemies on the Perseus.

But this time, the objective is not to eliminate the enemies. It is to retrieve the Medusa from the safe.

He tosses the keys into the air, and Homura is the first one to react. Expected, due to her background of being a gymnast.

When Brody uses his gun to shoot Homura, he shoots at her arm. A rather interesting detail. The arm tends to be a non-lethal are. For the other soldiers, they are shooting to kill. But for Brody, he is shooting to disarm.

So, Homura drops the keys to the ground, but Kirisame is there to grab them. Remember, she has one hell of a throwing arm. She throws the keys at Magma, who is right behind the safe. And success!! They manage to pry the lock open. But at the expense of Magma also being shot down, brutally.

The bloodbath goes on for a while, until Brody signals it for an end. Seeing all the bodies on the floor, he sheds a single tear. Which is very much in character for him. Right before Gen’s group left for South America, Chrome identified him as the one who was most likely to listen among the Americans.

He was also compared to Ukyo, who is a well known pacifist. Someone who does not like seeing people die.

Just when the soldiers think victory is at hand, Joel appears from under the pile of corpses. He stretches his hand out for the Medusa (After tinkering with his watch). Brody shuts down the safe door on his hand, crushing it. You know that feeling when you stub your finger on a shut door? This is that, but ten billion times worse. Especially considering that the safe is well, metallic.

Brody asks Joel why he betrayed them for the Kingdom of Science. Joel says that it is because the Americans interfered with his victory toast with Kaseki. A toast that he admitted he was looking forward to in the previous chapter. And of course, as a person who holds his work in high regard, there was no way he was going to let the device he worked on so hard be taken away so easily.

Just then, a signal is registered on Joel’s watch. Brody then realizes that the watch is a radio receiver. He orders the soldiers to take the watch off Joel’s arm, but they are too late. The ominous message from back on Treasure Island sets off the Medusa. 12,800,000 meters, 1 second.

Back on Treasure Island, the voice sounded over a dead Medusa. Or to be more specific, a Medusa that was severely low on battery. They even had to make sure to keep the device away from all communications equipment. This time, they are letting the voice sound over a fully active device. One that has only been used one time prior (When Joel was testing it on the wine)

There is of course, the question of the range as well. On Treasure Island, the Medusa was set for a range of 2000 meters by Ibara. And shortly after, it ran out of juice. But this was a Medusa that was being used for several years. Soyuz left the island as a kid 20 years ago. Which means the Medusa was active for at least that long. Judging by the statues that were at the bottom of the sea there, it was being used quite regularly.

So, one wonders. Just what is the maximum range of a newly produced, fully functional Medusa. Is it capable of petrifying the whole earth? How will Senku deal with such a phenomenon?

You'll start to see chapter trivia here at the end of our posts, but this week there isn't much trivia to post when people are dying on every page. :(

The keys that Brody uses for the safe seem to be based on the design of Abloy keys. Since Abloy locks are known for being impossible to pick because it has no springs, that would be more reason for him to use it. Abloy is a security company from Finland, the only place where these unique rotating-disk locks are common.

Boichi was consistent with the close-up design of the key's pattern throughout 3 manga panels, only one panel shows a different pattern but could be the back side of the keys.

Kirisame has a new weapon, a knife on the end of a rope. A fitting use for her throwing skills. This closely matches a real weapon from Chinese and Japanese history called a rope dart.

By the way, "Bourbon Revenge" is the name of a racing horse.